Man gets six months’ jail for breach, fraud

PICTOU – A New Glasgow man was sentenced to jail time Monday for disobeying a court order to stay away from the Aberdeen Business Centre.

Adrian Russell Weyman, 26, pleaded guilty to breaching a probation order in November 2013 in addition to two charges of fraud and an additional breach of a court order in February.

Both the Crown and defence agreed a conditional sentence order would be the best punishment for Weyman, but Provincial Court Judge Del Atwood felt jail time was a better sentence.

Atwood said he didn’t believe Weyman when he told police officers he was in the Aberdeen Business Centre because he forgot about the conditions of a court order he was placed on just a month before his breach.

He said court staff would have reviewed the probation order with Weyman as would his probation officer so saying he forgot about it wasn’t a good excuse.

In relation to the fraud charges, Crown Attorney Bill Gorman said Weyman cashed two cheques at the TD Bank in New Glasgow in February, totalling $3,500.

Weyman told police he was asked by a man he didn’t know outside of the bank to cash the cheques for him and he would get a cut of the money. He said he received $800 for doing the deed.

The cheques were from a local business that reported the thefts a few days after Weyman went to the bank. Court was told that office staff noticed the thefts following a break-and-enter into the business. Other cheques were cashed at another bank and local grocery store by another man.

When TD Bank staff confronted Weyman about the cheques, he said he was paid for doing some work for the cheque’s owner.

Gorman said Weyman’s pre-sentence report shows that he has some mental health issues and uses marijuana and illicit drugs, but his biggest problem is that he is unmotivated in life.

He said a conditional sentence order would put Weyman’s destiny in his own hands because he would have to obey by its conditions to be a better citizen or “crash and burn” in an institution.

Weyman apologized to the court for his actions saying he was sorry for wasting its time.

“I want to make a promise that I will not be in front of the court again,” he said.

Atwood said although Weyman wasn’t part of the break-and-enter into a business, he believes the accused put some thought into how he was going to cash the stolen cheques.

He said he chose to cash the cheques at a bank where he was well known and the memo portion of the cheques was filled out so he could later corroborate this story.

Weyman was given a six-month sentence and ordered to pay $400 in victim surcharge fines. He also must pay restitution to the TD Bank for $3,500.